Using the Cognitive Process Dimension of Bloom's Taxonomy to Deliver Lessons

by John R. Walkup, Ph.D.

The Cognitive Process Dimension of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy is so heavily used that it has become synonymous with Bloom's Taxonomy itself. The Cognitive Process Dimension comprises six levels.

1. Remember
2. Understand
3. Apply
4. Analyze
5. Evaluate
6. Create

These levels are explained on numerous pages throughout the Web and, for brevity, I won't describe them here.

While the Cognitive Process Dimension has found many uses in the classroom (e.g., Bloom's Digital Taxonomy is sometimes used for selecting mobile apps for instruction), its use in selecting teaching methods has never been clearly delineated.

Instructional Methods

Myriad instructional methods exist for teaching content. Each instructional method works well with some elements of the Cognitive Process Dimension, but not others.

For example, I would not use Socratic seminars to teach at the understand-level. Even though the Socratic seminar can, at least in principle, teach students to understand content, the overhead and time involved in carrying out the seminars make it inefficient for this purpose. On the other hand, Socratic seminars are often ideal for teaching students content that asks them to analyze and evaluate.

The table below represents my own impressions of the effectiveness of some of the more common instructional methods in relation to the Cognitive Process Dimension levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Naturally, there will be wide disagreement over this chart, but that's fine. Regardless of whether one thinks a particular cell should be green or red, the chart still illustrates why teachers need to compile a wide set of teaching methods in their tool chest.

We want to avoid dogmatic approaches to instruction. Therefore, this table only represents a general guide; teachers should use their own professional decision-making to select those methods that they think will be most effective and correlate to their own skill sets.

Using the Chart

Consider a teacher that is teaching students to write metaphors in a story. The tasks associated with writing metaphors could involve (1) remembering the definition of a metaphor, (2) understanding the definition, (3) applying a series of steps to write the metaphor in the context of the story, and (4) analyze the context of the story as well. Looking at the chart, the teacher might use direct instruction for (1) and (2), stiff guided practice* for (3), and a think-aloud for (4).

In a series of blog articles (beginning here), I am developing a lesson plan that uses Cognitive Rigor to power instruction. In my next installment, I will demonstrate how to use the above chart in a sample lesson centered on art education. Extending the use to other lessons should prove straightforward.

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* Stiff guided practice is described in another blog article.

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Seeking training at your school or district centered on Cognitive Rigor or Depth of Knowledge?  Call me at (559) 903-4014 or email me at jwalkup@standardsco.com. 

We will discuss ways in which I can help your teachers boost student engagement and deep thinking in their classrooms. I offer workshops, follow-up classroom observation/coaching, and curriculum analysis to anywhere in the country (and even internationally).